Flight Diverted after Threatening Note Found

June 29, 2006
A passenger found a note scrawled on two tray tables that a bomb was on board.

A Southwest Airlines flight was diverted Wednesday after a passenger found a note scrawled on two tray tables that a bomb was on board, but nothing was found after a search, authorities said.

The message was discovered after the Boeing 737 took off from Orange County on a flight to Las Vegas, and landed shortly before 10 a.m. at Ontario International Airport, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles.

The message was found scrawled in pen on at least two tray tables, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

The flight's 136 passengers were escorted to a secure area at the airport, while authorities inspected the jet. Southwest spokeswoman Beth Harbin said nothing threatening was found.

By late afternoon, most of the passengers had left the airport either by plane or bus, she said.

Also Wednesday, a flight operated by a regional carrier for Northwest Airlines was delayed in Oklahoma City after a woman told authorities there was a bomb on the plane.

No bomb was found, and the woman who made the statement was being evaluated, police said.

The flight to Memphis, Tenn., was ready to depart when the woman made the threat to a flight attendant, said Karen Carney, a spokeswoman for Will Rogers World Airport.

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